JP2001145007A - Information recorder, method and digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information recorder and an information recording method that can reduce the effect of a noise and a blur. SOLUTION: The information recorder that records information of an external field, is provided with an information acquisition unit that acquires information, an information recording unit recording the information, at least one sub switch that is sequentially in operation depending on a degree of the operation, a multi-stage switch unit including a main switch operated after all the sub switches are in operation, and a recording control unit that stops recording of information, linked with at least one of the sub switches operated during the recording of information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information recording apparatus, an information recording method, and a digital camera. In particular, the present invention relates to an information recording device for recording information including an external image and sound, an information recording method usable in the information recording device, and a digital camera capable of using the information recording method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of digital cameras and home movies, development of more user-friendly products has been desired. In particular, there is no limit to the demand for miniaturization and weight reduction of products.

[0003]

In developing a small and lightweight product, new considerations have been required in various aspects. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information recording device and an information recording method that can solve the above-mentioned problems. This object is achieved by a combination of features described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous embodiments of the present invention.

[0004]

As a new problem, the present inventor has come to recognize the following. In a conventionally known digital camera, the release button is
One switch function is assigned, the first switch is activated when the release button is half-pressed, and the second switch is activated when the release button is fully depressed. Processing such as automatic focus adjustment is performed in conjunction with the first switch, and imaging processing is performed in conjunction with the second switch. When using this digital camera to record external moving images and audio simultaneously,
When the recording is stopped by the second switch, the operation sound of the first switch may be recorded. Further, when recording is started by the second switch, there is a possibility that a mechanical sound of a process such as an automatic focus adjustment is recorded.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. That is, the information recording device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is an information recording device for recording information of the outside world, and includes an information acquisition unit for acquiring information, an information recording unit for recording information, A multi-stage switch unit including at least one sub-switch that operates sequentially according to the degree and a main switch that operates after all sub-switches are activated; and interlocking with at least one of the sub-switches that are activated during information recording. And a recording control unit for stopping recording of information.

[0006] The recording control unit may instruct the start of recording quality adjustment processing for recording information in conjunction with at least one of the sub-switches. The recording control unit may start recording information in conjunction with the main switch. The recording control unit may start recording information by detecting the operation of the main switch and the end of the recording quality adjustment processing. The recording control unit may maintain the recording quality adjustment processing in a stopped state during the recording of the information. The recording quality adjustment processing may include at least one of exposure adjustment processing, focus adjustment processing, white balance adjustment processing, and audio level adjustment processing.

A digital camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention is a digital camera for recording information including images and sounds of the outside world, and includes an imaging unit for acquiring images, and a sound acquisition unit for acquiring sounds. A control unit that controls at least one of an imaging unit and a sound acquisition unit, a processing unit that processes acquired information, an information recording unit that records acquired information, and an operation of inputting at least a user instruction to the processing unit The operation unit includes a multi-stage switch unit including at least one sub-switch that operates sequentially according to the degree of operation, and a main switch that operates after all sub-switches are activated. Information recording is performed in conjunction with at least one of the sub-switches activated during information recording. Including the recording control unit to locked.

An information recording method according to a first embodiment of the present invention is a method for recording external information, which monitors a state of a switch unit and operates the switch unit when no information is recorded. Starts the recording of information by detecting that the switch unit has been operated to the final stage, and if the switch unit is operated while the information is being recorded, the switch unit is operated to the final stage. Stop recording information without waiting for.

The above summary of the invention does not enumerate all of the necessary features of the present invention, and sub-combinations of these features may also constitute the invention.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the present invention. However, the following embodiments do not limit the claimed invention and have the features described in the embodiments. Not all combinations are essential to the solution of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of a digital camera 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The characteristic functions of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The digital camera 10 mainly includes an imaging unit 20, a sound acquisition unit 120, a control unit 40, a processing unit 60, a display unit 100, and an operation unit 110. The digital camera according to the present embodiment has a function of recording not only still images but also moving images and sounds.

The imaging unit 20 includes a mechanism member and an electric member related to photographing and image formation. Imaging unit 20
First, a photographing lens 22 for capturing and processing images,
An aperture 24, a shutter 26, an optical LPF (low-pass filter) 28, a CCD 30, and an image signal processing unit 32 are included. The taking lens 22 includes a focus lens, a zoom lens, and the like. With this configuration, the subject image is
Image on the light receiving surface of. Charges are accumulated in each sensor element (not shown) of the CCD 30 according to the amount of light of the formed subject image (hereinafter, the charges are referred to as “accumulated charges”). The accumulated charge is read out to a shift register (not shown) by a read gate pulse, and is sequentially read out as a voltage signal by a register transfer pulse.

Since the digital camera 10 generally has an electronic shutter function, a mechanical shutter such as the shutter 26 is not essential. In order to realize the electronic shutter function, the CCD 30 is provided with a shutter drain via a shutter gate. When the shutter gate is driven, accumulated charges are swept out to the shutter drain. By controlling the shutter gate, the time for accumulating the electric charges in each sensor element, that is, the shutter speed can be controlled.

A voltage signal output from the CCD 30, that is, an analog signal is color-separated into R, G, and B components by an imaging signal processing unit 32, and a white balance is adjusted first.
Subsequently, the imaging signal processing unit 32 performs gamma correction, sequentially A / D converts the R, G, and B signals at necessary timing, and obtains digital image data (hereinafter, simply referred to as “digital image data”) obtained as a result. ) Is output to the processing unit 60.

The imaging unit 20 further includes a finder 3
4 and a strobe 36. The finder 34 may be equipped with an LCD (not shown). In this case, various information from the main CPU 62 and the like described later can be displayed in the finder 34. The strobe 36 functions by emitting light when energy stored in a capacitor (not shown) is supplied to the discharge tube 36a.

The sound acquisition unit 120 includes a mechanical member and an electric member for acquiring sound from the outside world. The voice acquisition unit 120 includes a microphone 122 that captures and processes voice and a voice signal processing unit 124. The audio signal processing unit 124 sequentially performs A / D conversion on the audio signal captured by the microphone 122 at a necessary timing, and outputs the resulting audio data (hereinafter simply referred to as “digital audio data”) to the processing unit 60. I do. The audio signal processing unit 124 may perform a process for reducing noise and a process for adjusting a level.

The control unit 40 includes a zoom drive unit 42,
It has a focus drive unit 44, an aperture drive unit 46, a shutter drive unit 48, a control system CPU 50 that controls them, a distance measurement sensor 52, and a photometry sensor 54. Zoom drive unit 4
The drive units such as 2 each have a drive unit such as a stepping motor. Multi-stage switch unit 150 described later
When the button is pressed, the distance measurement sensor 52 measures the distance to the subject, and the photometry sensor 54 measures the brightness of the subject. The measured distance data (hereinafter simply referred to as “distance measurement data”) and the subject luminance data (hereinafter simply referred to as “photometry data”) are sent to the control system CPU 50. Control CPU 50
Controls the zoom drive unit 42 and the focus drive unit 44 to adjust the zoom magnification and focus of the photographing lens 22 based on the photographing information such as the zoom magnification designated by the user.

The control system CPU 50 controls the R of one image frame.
The aperture value and the shutter speed are determined based on the integrated value of the digital signal of GB, that is, the AE information. According to the determined values, the aperture driving unit 46 and the shutter driving unit 48 adjust the aperture amount and open and close the shutter 26, respectively.

The control system CPU 50 controls the light emission of the strobe 36 based on the photometric data, and at the same time adjusts the aperture of the aperture 26. When the user instructs the capture of an image, the CCD 30 starts to accumulate electric charges, and the accumulated electric charges are output to the imaging signal processing unit 32 after a lapse of a shutter time calculated from the photometric data.

The processing unit 60 includes the digital camera 10
The main C that controls the whole, especially the processing unit 60 itself
PU 62 and memory control unit 6 controlled by PU 62
4, a YC processing unit 70, an optional device control unit 74, a compression / decompression processing unit 78, and a communication I / F unit 80. Main C
The PU 62 is connected to the imaging CPU 5 by serial communication or the like.
Necessary information is exchanged with 0. Main CPU6
The second operation clock is provided from a clock generator 88. The clock generator 88 also provides clocks having different frequencies to the imaging system CPU 50 and the display unit 100, respectively.

The main CPU 62 is provided with a character generator 84 and a timer 86. The timer 86 is backed up by a battery and always counts the date and time.
From this count value, information about the shooting date and time and other time information are given to the main CPU 62. The character generation unit 84 generates character information such as a shooting date and time and a title, and the character information is appropriately combined with the captured image.

The memory control unit 64 includes a nonvolatile memory 66
And the main memory 68. Non-volatile memory 66
Is constituted by an EEPROM (electrically erasable and programmable ROM) or a flash memory, and stores data to be retained even when the power of the digital camera 10 is off, such as setting information by a user and adjustment values at the time of shipment. ing. The non-volatile memory 66 may have a main CP
A boot program or a system program of U62 may be stored. On the other hand, the main memory 68 generally has a D
It is composed of a relatively inexpensive and large-capacity memory such as a RAM. The main memory 68 has a function as a frame memory for storing data output from the imaging unit 20 and the sound acquisition unit 120, a function as a system memory for loading various programs, and a function as a work area. The nonvolatile memory 66 and the main memory 68 exchange data with each unit inside and outside the processing unit 60 via the main bus 82.

The YC processing section 70 performs YC conversion on the digital image data, and outputs a luminance signal Y and a color difference (chroma) signal B-
Generate Y, RY. The luminance signal and the color difference signal are temporarily stored in the main memory 68 by the memory control unit 64.
The compression / decompression processing unit 78 sequentially reads out the luminance signal and the color difference signal from the main memory 68 and compresses them. The data thus compressed (hereinafter simply referred to as “compressed data”) is written to a memory card, which is a type of the optional device 76, via the optional device control section 74. Optional device 7
When the storage device 6 is a storage medium such as a memory card, the optional device 76 may have a function as an information recording unit.

The processing unit 60 further includes an encoder 72
With. The encoder 72 receives a luminance signal and a color difference signal, converts them into a video signal (NTSC or PAL signal), and outputs the video signal from a video output terminal 90. When a video signal is generated from data recorded in the optional device 76, the data is first supplied to the compression / decompression processing unit 78 via the optional device control unit 74. Subsequently, the data subjected to the necessary expansion processing by the compression / expansion processing unit 78 is converted into a video signal by the encoder 72.

The optional device control section 74 generates necessary signals between the main bus 82 and the optional device 76, performs logical conversion, or converts voltage according to the signal specifications recognized by the optional device 76 and the bus specifications of the main bus 82. And so on. The digital camera 10 may include, for example, a PCM as an optional device 76 in addition to the above-described memory card.
A standard CIA-compliant standard I / O card may be supported. In that case, the optional device control unit 74
It may be constituted by an IA bus control LSI or the like.

The communication I / F section 80 is provided for the digital camera 10
Communication specifications supported by, for example, USB, RS-23
It performs control such as protocol conversion according to specifications such as 2C and Ethernet. The communication I / F unit 80 includes a driver IC as necessary, and communicates with an external device including a network via a connector 92. In addition to such standard specifications, data may be exchanged with an external device such as a printer, a karaoke machine, a game machine, or the like by a unique I / F.

The display unit 100 includes an LCD monitor 10
2 and an LCD panel 104. These are the LCD driver monitor driver 106, panel driver 10
8 respectively. LCD monitor 102
Is provided on the back of the camera with a size of, for example, about 2 inches, and displays a current shooting and playback mode, a zoom ratio for shooting and playback, a remaining battery level, a date and time, a screen for mode setting, a subject image, and the like. . The LCD panel 104 is, for example, a small black-and-white LCD provided on the upper surface of the camera and has an image quality (FINE).
/ NORMAL / BASIC etc.), information such as strobe light emission / non-light emission, standard number of recordable images, number of pixels, battery capacity, etc. are simply displayed.

The operation unit 110 includes mechanisms and electrical members necessary for the user to set or instruct the operation and the mode of the digital camera 10. The power switch 112 determines whether the power of the digital camera 10 is turned on or off. The multi-stage switch unit 150 includes a release switch having a two-stage push-in structure of half-press and full-press, and a sensor provided on the surface of the release switch. As an example, half-pressing performs recording quality adjustment processing such as automatic focus and automatic exposure. Subsequently, information including images and sounds is taken in by full pressing, and the recording quality adjustment processing is locked. After necessary signal processing, data compression, etc., the main memory 6 as an example of the information recording unit
8. Recorded in the optional device 76 or the like. The operation unit 110 may receive a setting using a rotary mode dial, a cross key, or the like in addition to these switches, and these are collectively referred to as a function setting unit 116 in FIG.
Examples of operations or functions that can be specified by the operation unit 110 include “file format”, “special effects”, “printing”, “determine / save”, and “display switching”. The zoom switch 118 determines a zoom magnification.

FIG. 2 shows a digital camera 10 according to this embodiment.
2 is a schematic functional block for explaining a characteristic function of the first embodiment. The function described with reference to FIG. 2 relates to a moving image recording function of recording an external image as a moving image. At this time, the sound of the outside world is simultaneously recorded in association with the sound. Recording of a moving image is realized, for example, by recording 30 still images per second. As a method for continuously recording still images, a conventionally known method may be used.
The digital camera 10 includes an information acquisition unit 130, an information recording unit 140, a control unit 40, a recording control unit 200, and a multi-stage switch unit 150. The information acquisition unit 200 includes the voice acquisition unit 12
0 and the imaging unit 20 for acquiring image information and audio information of the outside world and converting them into digital signals. The control unit 40 controls the information acquisition unit 130. The information recording unit 140 records the external information acquired by the information acquisition unit 130. Although the processing unit 60 is not shown in FIG. 2, the information including the image and the sound is actually stored in the processing unit 6 as shown in FIG.
After the necessary processing is performed by 0, it is recorded in the information recording unit 140. The information recording unit 140 may be realized by the main memory 68, or may be realized by an external recording medium such as a memory card, a smart media, or a floppy disk as an example of the optional device 76.

The multi-stage switch unit 150 includes a first sub-switch 152, a second sub-switch 154, and a main switch 156. The first auxiliary switch 152 is a sensor provided on the surface of the release button, and detects that the user has put a finger on the release button, and
The sleep state of the monitor 102 is released. The second sub-switch 154 is turned on when the release button is pressed down to half. The main switch 156 is turned on when the release button is pressed all the way. As described above, the multi-stage switch unit 150 includes the two sub-switches that operate sequentially according to the degree of operation, and the main switch that operates after all the two sub-switches operate.

The recording control unit 200 includes a multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210, a recording quality adjustment processing control unit 220, a recording control unit 230, and a recording state holding unit 240. The recording control unit 200 is, for example, the main CP in FIG.
It can be realized by cooperation between U62 and a program stored or loaded in the main memory 68 or the nonvolatile memory 66. When the main CPU 62 has a built-in memory, necessary programs may be stored in the memory and various functions may be realized as firmware. Although FIG. 2 describes each function of the recording control unit as a unitary structure, these units are not necessarily physically unitary and do not need to be. For example, the function of the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 may be provided to the operation unit 110 that receives an instruction from the user, and the function of the recording quality adjustment processing control unit 220 may be provided to the control system CPU 50 of the control unit 40. . In any case, there is considerable freedom in designing the digital camera 10 to realize the function of the recording control unit 200.

The multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 monitors the state of each switch of the multi-stage switch unit 150.
The recording quality adjustment processing control unit 220 receives the instruction from the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210, instructs the control unit 40 to start or stop the recording quality adjustment processing, and monitors the state of the recording quality adjustment processing. The recording control unit 230 instructs start and end of recording of external information based on information transmitted from the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 and the recording quality adjustment processing control unit 220. Further, the current recording state is transmitted to the recording state holding unit 240. Recording state holding unit 240
Holds one of the recording states “recording” and “stopped”.

First, the operation of the recording control unit 200 when the recording state is "stopping" will be described. When detecting the ON state of the first sub-switch 154 while the recording state held in the recording state holding unit 240 is “stopped”, the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 sends the recording quality adjustment processing control unit 220 Instructs the start of the recording quality adjustment processing. Further, when the on state of the main switch 156 is detected, the recording control unit 230 is notified of the start of recording. Upon receiving the instruction from the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210, the recording quality adjustment processing control unit 220 instructs the control unit 40 to start the recording quality adjustment processing, and subsequently monitors the state of the recording quality adjustment processing. When detecting that the predetermined recording quality has been ensured, the recording quality adjustment processing control unit 220 instructs the control unit 40 to stop the recording quality adjustment processing and notifies the recording control unit 230 of the end of the recording quality adjustment processing. . The recording control unit 230 receives the recording start notification transmitted from the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 and the recording quality adjustment processing end notification transmitted from the recording quality adjustment processing control unit 220, and
An instruction to start recording is given to 40, and the recording state of the recording state holding unit 240 is changed to “recording”. The recording control unit 230
The recording start may be instructed by receiving only the recording start notification, but it is preferable to instruct the recording start after waiting for the recording quality adjustment processing end notification. According to this, it is possible to prevent the mechanical sound generated during the recording quality adjustment processing from being recorded. Further, since the recording is started after the predetermined recording quality is secured, unexpected deterioration of the recording quality can be prevented. In the conventional moving image recording apparatus, recording quality adjustment processing such as automatic focus processing was performed during moving image recording, so that there was a problem that a large amount of power was consumed. Since the recording quality adjustment processing is kept stopped during the recording, power consumption can be suppressed.

As examples of the recording quality adjustment processing, focus adjustment processing, exposure adjustment processing, white balance adjustment processing,
There is audio level adjustment processing and the like. These processes are mainly performed by the control unit 40, the imaging signal processing unit 32, and the audio signal processing unit 124.

Next, the operation of the recording control unit 200 when the recording state is "recording" will be described. When detecting the ON state of the first sub-switch 154 when the recording state held in the recording state holding unit 240 is “recording”, the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 causes the recording control unit 230 to stop recording. Notify. Upon receiving the recording stop notification transmitted from the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210, the recording control unit 230 instructs the information recording unit 140 to stop recording, and changes the recording state of the recording state holding unit 240 to “stopped”. I do. According to this, since the recording is stopped without waiting for the main switch 156 to be turned on, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the release button from being recorded. In addition, when the user presses the release button, the user can be prevented from shaking the image immediately before the end of recording by causing camera shake.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a recording start procedure of the information recording method according to this embodiment. First, the user selects the moving image mode via the function setting unit 116.
At this time, the recording state held by the recording state holding unit 240 is “stopped”. Subsequently, the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 monitors the state of the second sub-switch 154 (S102). The user sets the multi-stage switch unit 150
When is pressed halfway, the second sub-switch 154 is turned on. When the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 detects that the second sub-switch 154 has been turned on, the process proceeds to Y, and the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 determines that the recording quality adjustment process for recording information has started. The adjustment processing control unit 220 is notified. Upon receiving the notification, the recording quality adjustment processing control unit 220 instructs the control unit 40 to start the recording quality adjustment processing (S104). At this time, the information measured by the distance measurement sensor 52 and the photometry sensor 54 and the information acquisition unit 13
0 based on the acquired information.
Perform focus adjustment processing, the aperture drive unit 44 performs exposure adjustment processing, the imaging signal processing unit 32 performs white balance adjustment processing, and the audio signal processing unit 124 performs audio level adjustment processing. The recording quality adjustment processing control unit 220 monitors the recording quality adjustment processing. Next, the multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 communicates with the main switch 156 and the second sub-switch 1
The state of 54 is monitored (S106 and S108). Before the main switch 156 is turned on, the second sub-switch 15
When 4 is turned off, the imaging is canceled, the process proceeds to Y of S108, the recording quality adjustment process is stopped (S116),
It returns to S102. If the main switch 156 is turned on before the second sub-switch 154 is turned off, the process proceeds to Y in S106, and enters the imaging standby state. Thereafter, the process waits until the recording quality adjustment processing section 220 detects that the predetermined recording quality has been ensured (S110), and if not detected, the process proceeds to N to continue the recording quality adjustment process (S112). If so, the process proceeds to Y, where the recording quality adjustment processing is stopped, and recording is started (S114). At this time, the recording may be started after further waiting for the vertical synchronization for moving image recording to be initialized. Recording may be started further after the second sub-switch 154 is turned off. According to this, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the switch from being recorded. During recording, the recording quality adjustment processing is maintained in a stopped state.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a recording end procedure of the information recording method according to the present embodiment. Now that the information has been recorded, the recording state held by the recording state holding unit 240 is “recording”. The multi-stage switch monitoring unit 210 monitors the status of the sub-switch to which the recording stop function is assigned. In the present embodiment, a recording stop function is assigned to the second sub-switch 154. While the second sub-switch is off, N of S200
The recording process is continued (S202). When the second sub-switch is turned on, the process proceeds to Y in S200, and a recording end process is performed (S204). The recording stop function is the first
May be assigned to any of the sub-switches. According to this, the recording is stopped by turning on the first sub-switch just by touching the release button, so that the operation sound of the release button can be prevented from being recorded.

FIG. 5 shows the second sub-switch 1 of this embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a time change of the state of a main switch and a main switch. When the second sub-switch is turned on at time t1, the recording quality adjustment processing is started. When the main switch is further turned on at time t2, a recording standby state is set. At time t3, when a predetermined recording quality is secured, recording is started. When the second sub-switch 154 is turned on again at time t4, the recording is stopped.

In the present embodiment, the multi-stage switch unit 150 includes three switches. However, the number of switches may be any number as long as at least two switches are included. Further, in the present embodiment, the multi-stage switch unit 150 is realized by a release button, but this may be another mechanical switch such as a slide type, a rotary type, or various optical switches using a light blocking effect. .

According to the information recording apparatus and the information recording method of the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce noise caused by operating the device. Further, it is possible to reduce blurring of an image due to operation of the device.

As described above, the present invention has been described using the embodiments. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments. It is apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes or improvements can be added to the above embodiment. It is apparent from the description of the appended claims that embodiments with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

[0042]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information recording apparatus and an information recording method capable of improving recording quality.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the digital camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a recording start procedure of the information recording method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a recording end procedure of the information recording method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining states of switches of the information recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 digital camera 20 imaging unit 40 control unit 60 processing unit 68 main memory 76 optional device 100 display unit 110 operation unit 120 sound acquisition unit 130 information acquisition unit 140 information recording unit 150 multi-stage switch unit 152 first sub-switch 154 second Sub switch 156 Main switch 200 Recording control unit 210 Multi-stage switch monitoring unit 220 Recording quality adjustment processing control unit 230 Recording control unit 240 Recording state holding unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme coat ゛ (reference) H04N 9/04 H04N 9/04 B H04R 3/00 320 H04R 3/00 320 F term (reference) 2H054 AA01 BB13 5C022 AB02 AB15 AB17 AB22 AC03 AC32 AC42 AC52 AC54 AC69 AC72 AC74 5C065 BB02 BB04 BB08 BB11 BB41 CC01 DD02 EE12 EE14 FF02 FF03 FF11 GG18 GG27 GG30 GG32 GG44 GG49 5D020 BB07 5D066 AA02

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An information recording device for recording information of the outside world, comprising: an information acquisition unit for acquiring the information; an information recording unit for recording the information; and at least sequentially operating according to a degree of operation. A multi-stage switch unit including one sub-switch and a main switch that operates after all of the sub-switches are activated; and recording of the information in conjunction with at least one of the sub-switches activated during the recording of the information. And a recording control unit for stopping the operation. 2. The information according to claim 1, wherein the recording control unit instructs a start of a recording quality adjustment process for recording the information in conjunction with at least one of the sub-switches. Recording device. 3. The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording control unit starts recording the information in conjunction with the main switch. 4. The information recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording control unit detects the operation of the main switch and the end of the recording quality adjustment processing and starts recording the information. 5. The information recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording control unit keeps the recording quality adjustment process stopped while recording the information. 6. The recording quality adjustment processing includes an exposure adjustment processing, a focus adjustment processing, a white balance adjustment processing,
6. The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of a sound level adjusting process and a sound level adjusting process. 7. A digital camera for recording information including an image and a sound of the outside world, wherein the image pickup unit acquires the image, a sound acquisition unit acquires the sound, the image pickup unit and the sound acquisition. A control unit that controls at least one of the units, a processing unit that processes the acquired information, an information recording unit that records the acquired information, and an operation unit that inputs at least a user instruction to the processing unit, The operation unit includes a multi-stage switch unit including at least one sub-switch that is sequentially activated according to a degree of operation, and a main switch that is activated after all of the sub-switches are activated. In conjunction with at least one of the sub-switches activated during the recording of the information, Digital camera comprising a recording control unit for stopping the recording of the information into the recording unit. 8. A method for recording external information, comprising: monitoring a state of a switch unit; and when the switch unit is operated when the information is not recorded, the switch unit is operated until the last stage. The recording of the information is started by detecting that the operation has been performed, and if the switch unit is operated while the information is being recorded, without waiting for the switch unit to be operated to the last stage. Stopping the recording of said information.